The impact of tobacco use and cessation on oral and dental diseases and conditions.

Smoked and smokeless tobacco use produces profound effects on soft and hard tissues in and around the oral cavity. Because many of these changes are clinically observable, dentists, oral hygienists, and related health professionals are in ideal positions to give patients specific information concerning the oral ill effects of tobacco use. This article links tobacco use with a wide range of malignant, precancerous, and nonmalignant changes in the oral and perioral environment and addresses the documented benefits of quitting. Oral conditions less definitively linked to tobacco are also discussed.